Pop singer Ngoc Anh won the first season of the Vietnamese version of the Popstar to Operastar contest held in HCM City on Sunday. — Photo tapchithoitrangtre

HCM CITY (VNS) — Ha Noi-based pop star Ngoc Anh won the first season of the Vietnamese version of the Popstar to Operastar contest held in HCM City on Sunday.

She beat the other three singers of similar talent, namely Khanh Linh, Kasim Hoang Vu and Nathan Lee, by winning the highest number of audience votes last night.

The four finalists had to perform a solo song in chamber music style and sing with one of the jury members in another opera piece.

Anh impressed the jury with her solo song, which had been composed by Pham Duy in 1947, in the background of the famous "Blue Danube" composed in 1867. Then she sang the song "Somewhere" with Bulgarian judge Evelina Krasteva.

Both her songs received a total of 39 marks from the jury, 0.5 points less than her competitor Khanh Linh, who was considered to have the most professional voice in the final round. Yet, after receiving the highest number of audience votes, Anh won the title.

HCM City-based Nathan Lee and Kasim Hoang Vu received the same jury scores of 37.

The Vietnamese version of the British Popstar to Operastar show attracted eight pop stars from across the country in eight live shows during the past three months. It was the first professional-level contest of its kind in Viet Nam to focus on opera. The jury comprised two Bulgarian singers, namely Ivaylo Mihaylov and Evelina Krusteva Stoyanova, Vietnamese opera singer Vo Thuy Ngoc Tuyen and journalist Nguyen Minh Duc. — VNS